Across scientific fields AI is implicitly understood as a Western phenomenon – applied e.g., in Western social media, building on Western use cases, and relying on notions of intelligence rooted in Western philosophy and science, and with historical ties to the development of a modernity intrinsically related to the colonization of the Global South(s).
Big Tech’s use of the Global South(s) subjects and labor to both gather data and train models in unregulated settings is but one example of how these ties play out today.
Through analysis of the relations between modernity, democracy, colonialism, and cotemporary AI in the Global South(s), we interrogate how AI is imagined and applied as both an opportunity for innovation and a hinderance to de-colonial aspirations.
The approach is experimental and interdisciplinary. Using field work, document analysis, and a strategic framework for democratic community engagement (from the project “Knowledge servers”), it brings together technology researchers and practitioners across disciplines and cultures/hemispheres.
The aim is to collectively question the techno-, knowledge-, body-, and geopolitics of AI, to effectively assess contemporary AI policies, use cases, and designs; and to inform future design, use, and governance of AI in a de/colonial and democratic perspective.
An interest group across Aarhus University, of researchers working with technological practice in a Global South context – for sharing experience, knowledge and resources. In addition to the project PI & Co-PIs:
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Organizations:
